


What Remains of Virgil Sanders

by Fishy_Taylor



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series), What Remains of Edith Finch (Video Game)
Genre: Animals, Birth, Blood, Chocolate the Pound Puppy, Drowning, Eating, Food Critic, Guns, Heart | Hartley Sanders, Illness | Vanessa "Nessy" Sanders, Immune System | Imani Sanders, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Microwave | Mike Sanders, Misleading Compliments | Missy Sanders, Moon | Jericho Sanders, Sun | Apollo Sanders, Thomas Sanders Shorts Prince Character | Pryce Sanders - Freeform, Trans Character, Trans Character Dead Name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 18,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26487424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishy_Taylor/pseuds/Fishy_Taylor
Summary: This is an AU of the game What Remains of Edith Finch. It is a phenomenal game, and I recommend that you go and watch a playthrough (or play it for yourself) before reading this.Virgil Sanders returns to his family's home to learn about the family curse.
Relationships: Brain | Brian Sanders/Sun | Apollo Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Immune System | Imani Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders/Microwave | Mike Sanders, Sleep | Remy Sanders/Thomas Sanders Shorts Prince Character | Pryce Sanders, Thomas Sanders Shorts Anxiety Character | Andy Sanders/Heart | Hartley Sanders
Comments: 29
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

Flowers in hand, he sat on the ferry to Orcas Island. The ferry boat's loud horn drowned out the sound of the waves crashing against the boat. He looked down at his lap. In one hand, he held white Cala Lilies. In the other, a notebook with "Virgil Sanders" scrawled messily on the cover in purple ink. Putting the flowers to the side, he lifted the front cover and turned to the first page. Similar handwriting awaited him inside.

 **"A lot of this isn't going to make sense to you, and I'm sorry about that."** It began, though the crossed-out paragraphs before it told him that this was not how it originally started.

**"I'm just going to start in the beginning with the house."**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil approaches the house for the first time in a long time

Virgil stood at the end of the long driveway. Looming in the distance was the house, shooting out of the ground like a sharp and deadly spike on a cave floor. While tall trees blocked Virgil's view of the lower floors, he could still see some of the top-most rooms far above the treetops.

**"I lived here till I was eleven but I wasn't allowed inside half the rooms."**

Virgil turned and carefully began to walk down the stone driveway. He paused at the mailbox, taking a curious peek inside.

**"Inside the mailbox were bills from seven years ago marked "urgent, open immediately"."**

He closed the mailbox and continued down the hill to the gate stretching across the path with a sign on it warning "No Trespassing"

**"I hadn't been back since my brother Remus's funeral."**

He pushed through the gate with a grunt. It squeaked as it swung open. Virgil continued on. As he walked over the wooden bridge with a small waterfall beside it and creek flowing under it, be spotted a red sign on the tree up ahead. When walking closer, Virgil recognized it as another sign warning people against trespassing.

**"In his will, my father left me a key but didn't tell me what it unlocked."**

Virgil pulled the key from his pocket and examined it as he stepped over a mossy rock on the path.

**"Maybe he thought I'd know. Or he thought that the mystery would be enough to bring me back."**

Virgil sighed and put it back in his pocket, looking up. He was at a fork in the path. After looking in both directions, he decided to go to the left, a steeper path than the rest of the driveway. He took careful steps on the mossy stone staircase, running his right hand along the wall of rock next to him, preferring that to the tall drop to his left.

Frogs greeted him as he made it to the bottom. They seemed to croak louder for him, as of welcoming him home like he was an old friend. A small creek was directly in front of him. He turned left and followed it through the winding path of trees to its source: a waterfall continuing from the one above that flowed into the small pond that became the creek. Virgil saw in the water a paper, and while most of the paper's image and words were blurred and obscured, Virgil could make out "Missing" in large bold print at the top of the paper.

Virgil turned away and went back the way he came, wanting to get the missing poster out of his mind.

**"The truth is, even after I inherited the house I never thought I'd corn back to it. But now I had questions about my family that only the house knew the answers to."**

Virgil walked across a smaller section of the creek on a small wooden bridge with a railing on one side. 

**"The woods around the house have always been uncomfortably silent. As if they're about to say something but never do."**

No birds chirped as Virgil walked through the forest. A fog grew denser along the forest floor, obscuring Virgil's vision slightly as he walked down the more noticeable path. As he walked, something not dirt crunched below his feet. He looked down to see another Missing Poster, this one clearer than the other. Virgil turned away again and hurried on. 

He stepped out of the forest onto the stone driveway again. To his right, the driveway led up to the way he could have come before. Ahead, an old black truck sat rotting under an even older car park with a basketball hoop on the from. Virgil looked to his left and saw the house, ominously standing there, waiting.

**"The house was exactly the way I remembered it. The way I'd been dreaming about it."**

Virgil walked across the creaking wood bridge and up through the familiar flower boxes. Virgil was surprised there were still purple flowers growing in the boxes after all this time. 

**"As a child, the house had made me uncomfortable in a way I couldn't put into words."**

Virgil paused at the base of the deck stairs. He took a deep breath and took his first step up the stairs. More missing posters were scattered along the stairs deck. Virgil couldn't avoid them as he continued up to the front porch.

**"Now, as a 17-year-old, I knew exactly what those words were. I was afraid of the house."**

Virgil nervously stepped up onto the front porch and approached the door.

**"I hoped the key might unlock the front door. It didn't."**

Virgil frowned and stepped away from the door. He saw the mail slot and knelt down. Lifting up the slot covering, he saw inside to the staircase.

**"Looking in, I felt like the house itself had been waiting for me."**

Virgil felt a chill and was quick to move away from the door again. He turned and walked down the ramp leading to the deck, passed the garage door, and around the corner to the side door of the house. It was also locked, but the cat door was moving with the breeze. Wind chimes jingled pleasantly above his head as he got down on all fours and crowded through.

**"Crawling through the doggie door used to be a lot easier when I was eleven."**

He took a moment to catch his breath before walking around the tarp-covered car and dusty pile of boxes to the door leading to the kitchen. He grabbed the doorknob.

**"For the first time in years..."**

He opened the door.

**"I felt like I was home."**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil begins to explore.

He stepped out into the dusty kitchen. Stacked up books were all over the floor and table. Empty wine bottles sat collecting dust. Virgil stepped around the island, sliding his hand along the countertop.

**"But instead of a family, there were just memories of one."**

Virgil let out a chuckle when he saw the excessively large pile of cans of tuna on the counter next to the open cookbook.

**"Like how after Remus started working at the cannery we all got sick of eating salmon. Except for our cat, Thomas."**

A Chinese take out menu was next to the sink. 

**"Or how only one restaurant would deliver to our house, so we had Chinese a lot."**

Virgil missed the taste of chicken lo mein, but he couldn't bring himself to eat it anymore. He walked away from the kitchen, down a short hallway.

**"Nothing in the house looked abnormal, there was just too much of it."**

Virgil stepped out into the main hallway he'd seen from the front door. Dozens of picture frames covered the walls. More books were piled up here too. There must have been hundreds just in this small area.

**"Like a smile with too many teeth."**

Virgil walked passed the books and some foam-peanut-filled packing boxes to the front door. On the table next to it was a pile of missing posters.

**"My dad wasn't much of an optimist, but he never stopped believing that my brother Roman was alive."**

Virgil put a hand on the top poster of the pile. His brother's face smiled back at him. Virgil couldn't smile back. His hand brushed over his brother's face as he moved away, almost tripping on a different moving box.

**"A lot of things got left behind in the whirlwind of that last night."**

Virgil took a step towards the library, with its many books surrounding it. The sealant was still on the perimeter of the door, preventing Virgil- or anyone for that matter- from opening the door to get inside. Virgil decided to leave it be and turned away, deciding to not go upstairs yet as he walked towards the living room and the door to the basement. 

**"Dad always told me to stay out of the basement so I wasn't too surprised when the key didn't fit."**

Virgil frowned at the key before something caught his eye. There was a shelf next to the basement door was an old music box with "Remington" carved on the stop in beautiful calligraphy.

Virgil grabbed the wind up key and began to turn it. After a few turns, the lid opened, showing a forest background with a bigfoot silhouette. A carving of a little boy rose from the bottom of the box. He spun as the song played. Virgil didn't remember it being this sad.

**"Great grandpa Hartley built a music box for Remy. Along with the rest of the house."**

Virgil closed the lid and moved on through the living room to the messing dining room table. One of the chairs was knocked over.

**"The table was still a wreck from the night we left. It was like a bomb had gone off, killing everyone but sparing the furniture."**

Virgil walked around the table to where he had sat that night. His hand rested on his chair, still pushed out from the table. He then noticed the wheelchair in the spot to his left. It was great grandpa Vee's wheelchair. Next to it was a brochure for a nursing home.

**"My dad was the only one of us who could imagine great grandpa Vee living in a nursing home."**

Virgil felt cold and moved away from the table and back into the living room. On one wall, large floor-to-ceiling windows looked out to the ocean. In the center of the room, a mix match of chairs and a couch faced the television in the corner. Along the adjacent wall to the windows was a big brick fireplace.

**"Even the fireplace had a story. Vee told me the bricks came from the original house after it sank."**

Virgil walked behind the couch and back out to the hallway. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, next to Vee's stair chair. He patted it before walking upstairs.

**"After Roman disappeared, Dad sealed up all the bedrooms. Then Vee retaliated and drilled peepholes."**

There were so many rooms that had sealed off doors with peepholes. Each one of the doors had a name and a small plaque under the peephole with two years on it. 

Remy   
1944-1960

Virgil looked around the corner and up the attic stairs to see the door to the attic was closed. Virgil pushed on it.

**"Dad must have locked the third-floor stairs on the night we left."**

He walked away, spotting a framed movie poster. "My friend Bigfoot" starring Remy Sanders

**"Whenever people ask me about my family, the first thing they wanna know about is Remy."**

Virgil continued through the halls, seeing more doors with more family names.

Vee  
1917-2010

Thomas  
1937-1947

Then Virgil saw one door was open. Inside, illuminated by the sunlight coming in through the window was a blue room with sharks painted on the walls. Virgil stepped inside.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And down the rabbit hole Alice fell

**"I spent a lot of time playing in great uncle Logan's room. I think my dad sometimes regretted not sealing it up."**

The painted fish shadows on the wall were faded with age. Virgil remembered how he was a mermaid princess. He used to go up to Remus's room and ask him to play with him. Remus was happy to oblige his younger sibling. Virgil remembered their last game together in this room. Two merman princes fighting off an evil octopus. Remus always had a wonderful imagination that made the games so much better.

Virgil felt tears in his eyes as he turned away to the opposite wall that had the painting of a train car with a real cut out for one of the windows. Leaning on that window was a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea with a padlock on it. Virgil pulled out the key.

**"Remus told me there were secret passages, but I never believed him."**

Virgil tried the key into the padlock and was surprised when it turned and unlocked with a click. Virgil removed the lock and opened the book to see all the pages had been cut in the center, leaving room for a handle.

**"Turns out, my dad was really good at keeping secrets."**

Virgil grabbed the handle and lifted it like a garage door to reveal a passageway.

**"Now it was time to find out what my dad had been afraid of."**

Virgil climbed into the small passageway. It was cramped and messy with support beams, bare wood, and brick exposed. His hand touched something strange. It was a puddle of dried black paint. He looked on the wall to his left to see a painting of their cat Thomas in black paint. Under it, in loopy cursive was "Roman." Virgil smiled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Virgil crawled on to the next door.

**"Reading this, maybe it sounds like I had a plan. But I had no idea what was behind that door."**

Virgil lifted the door up to see into a familiar bedroom.

**"Just like I had no clue where all this was gonna lead."**

He climbed through the wardrobe and looked around in shock.

The room was fit for a fairytale prince on an adventure. In one corner, a four-poster bed was tucked along the wall, painted white. The name "Thomas" was painted in the headboard. Golden stars covered the ceiling. Fake leaves and painted forest accented the room. On one wall, a mural was painted over the brick, looking like you could step through to the cottage from Snow White. 

**"I grew up looking at Thomas's room through the peephole. Being inside for the first time, I felt like I'd stepped behind a painting."**

Virgil couldn't believe his eyes as he sat down on the bed next to an octopus doll. He was really here. In this room. He stood and walked over to the far wall, next to the window where Vee had built the shrine.

On a cross-section of a tree stump, there was a painting of Thomas: a young boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and a bright smile. He wore a red shirt embroidered with stars. That shirt was folded up under the painting, surrounded by candles and a black and white photo of Thomas. There was also a red journal with Thomas Sanders written on the front.

Virgil took the book and opened it. He sat down and began to read.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas's Journal Entry

**"December 13th, 1947"**

**"Dear Diary"**

**"I'll be gone soon, but I wanted to tell somebody what's gonna happen. It started when dad sent me to bed without dinner. I woke up and I was starving."**

Thomas got out of the bed and stood in the dark bedroom.

**"So I looked around for something to eat."**

He walked across the room to his hamster cage and picked up the half-eaten carrot inside that his hamster Sacagawea used to live in before she passed last month.

**"The gerbil food was dry, but I didn't mind it."**

He ate the carrot before turning and going to the bathroom. He grabbed the tube on the sink and opened it, swallowing all that was inside.

**"I kept eating and eating."**

He then looked to the window sill where there were decorative plants with berries. His dad had put it there while decorating for Christmas. He picked the berries off and ate them.

**"I ate a lot of things that night."**

He then walked back into his room, hoping, praying that there was more to eat out here.

**"Then I heard chirping outside my window."**

He turned to the window and saw a bird. It was singing on his window sill outside. He went over and recognized it.

**"It was a barn swallow going back to her nest."**

Thomas opened the window. It creaked and only opened partly due to the small chain on the outside that kept the two halves connected. She flew to a far branch just out of reach.

**"I reached out for her and suddenly..."**

There was a yowl as he jumped out the window and onto the tree.

**"I was a cat!"**

He ran along the tree, jumping from branch to branch as he chased the barn swallow. His tail swished back and forth.

**"I tried to be quiet, but the bird was really scared."**

Every time he jumped, the bird flew away to avoid him. He was relentless in following. He jumped onto the flower box outside his parents' window. He looked in at his parents sleeping in bed.

**"Dad and Papa didn't even look at me."**

He meowed and continued on, running along the gutters and over fragile branches to follow after that pesky bird.

**"I jumped and I almost got her. I could tell she was getting really tired. Now, I was up in the big tree. I promised Papa I wouldn't climb anymore. But all I cared about was eating that momma bird."**

Thomas was so close he could almost taste her! Growling, he jumped down, directly at her... He fell through the twigs and began to fall.

**"I gobbled her up... And suddenly, I was an owl!"**

He seemed to transform in an instant. He hooted as he flapped his wings. He was somewhere entirely new.

**"First, all I heard was the wind then I heard little teeth nibbling in the grass."**

He flew through the snowstorm, searching, listening for the source of the nibbling. He then saw it. A rabbit below! He swooped after it and grabbed it harshly with his sharp talons, picking it off the ground. It squealed and squirmed, trying to escape. He flew onto a nearby tree branch and began to swallow the rabbit whole.

**"I imagined his face looking up and seeing mine, through my talons. I swallowed him up, and I didn't chew one bit. Then I flew off to find something bigger."**

He flew off the branch and off into the snow, listening. He heard that nibbling sound again. There!

**"A mama rabbit!"**

He swooped down, chasing after his running prey. She looked so tasty! He just had to have her. He grabbed her and lifted her up to a big tree branch.

**"She was almost too big to carry. I started choking, but I couldn't stop eating. And suddenly, I was a shark!"**

The branch broke beneath him as he fell to the ground and down the hill below. He rolled and rolled past trees, over rocks, and across a road. He rolled right off a cliff.

**"I rolled off a cliff and into the ocean. Now, I was hungrier than ever. I wanted fat juicy seals."**

He saw through the water until he caught sight of a seal swimming through the seaweed ahead. He snuck up on it, grabbing it's back flipper. It thrashed and screamed.

**"I tore off her flipper and it tasted really good."**

He began to chase after the seal. It tried to get away, tried doing anything it could to hide and lose him. Sadly for the seal, the bloody trail it left behind in the water was easy for Thomas to follow. He bit down with a crack.

 **"I grabbed on tight, but I was so hungry, I jumped out of the water. When I opened my eyes, everything had changed."**

Thomas landed on a boat. He began to move his arm forward. A long, slimy tentacle stretched out in front of him before pulling him along after it.

**"Now I was a monster. And I smelled people everywhere."**

He crept through the boat until he saw a man standing on the deck up ahead, leaning on the rail. The man stared up at the moon, blissfully unaware.

**"I was big, but I moved real quiet."**

Before the man could scream, Thomas grabbed him and pulled him close, devouring him. He was still hungry and moved up the stairs to the cabin.

**"I wanted to stop, but also I didn't."**

In the cabin, a drunk man slurred through a sea shanty as he sat at the table. He didn't see Thomas coming. Luckily for Thomas, the captain didn't seem to notice that the singing had stopped, so it was easy for Thomas to sneak up on him and devour him too.

**"After the last passenger, I was still hungry. Across the water, I smelled something new, something I had to have. So I swam towards it. I slithered onto the sand, and the good smell went into an old pipe."**

He went up the pipe and emerged in a bathroom. He pushed through a door into a room with a white, four-poster bed.

**"I got closer and closer."**

He snuck through the room and under the bed towards a lit flashlight.

**"All my stomachs started growling. And suddenly, I was me again. I held my breath for a long time, but I couldn't hear anything. I think it's waiting for me to fall asleep. But it's not going to wait much longer."**

Thomas grabbed his journal and pen and started writing.

**"It needs to feed, and we both know I... WILL be... delicious."**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deeper and deeper Virgil goes, discovering something new around every turn

Virgil closed the book and stood, replacing it on the shrine. He reached into his bag and pulled out the journal he'd brought with him. He flipped to a page that had a sketched-out Sanders family tree. Above Thomas 1937-1947, Virgil drew a sketch of Thomas based off the panting on the shrine: a smiling boy with stars on his shirt

**"I'm not sure if I believed all of that. But I'm sure Vee would have."**

Virgil closed the book and looked to the blackboard behind the shrine, which showed a picture drawn in chalk of Thomas as a prince in a castle being guarded by a sea monster.

**"I got the sense Vee had spent a lot of time here. Before my dad sealed the doors."**

Virgil knew there was only one way out of this room. He went over to the window and pushed them open. The groaning sounded much like their old cat. Virgil tested his weight on the wooden structure below the window. It held his weight just fine. He had a great view of the cliffs and ocean as he walked along the outside of the house.

**"This will be obvious later, but my dad never told me any of these stories. Vee would have, but dad didn't like bringing up the past. Though, when we adopted a stray kitten, dad was the one who named it Thomas."**

On the other side of the wooden support walkway was a partially open window. Virgil lifted it up and climbed inside.

**"I spent a lot of time in great grandpa Vee's room. We got along, and it was a good place to hide from my dad."**

The bed was directly facing the window when Virgil came in. On one side of the room was a desk, another shrine. This one was for Vee's husband, Hartley. There was an article about his death and a big painting of him with his trusty saw.

**"When Vee told people Hartley was killed by a dragon, he could also have said that he was building a dragon-shaped slide that collapsed. He could have, but he didn't."**

The article titled "Dragon Kills Sanders" was framed.

Virgil moved onto another framed newspaper that hung on the wall. This one was titled "'Vee' Won't Go!"

**"One summer, they evacuated the island, but Vee refused to go. For a few weeks, he was a celebrity."**

The books were back in abundance, but there were also tapes all around the TV.

**"I hadn't thought of myself as Virgil Jr. for a long long time."**

Virgil looked at the magazine framed next to the TV titled "Mole Man Beneath Sanders House".

**"Vee gave a big interview about a mole man living under the Sanders house. My dad was furious."**

Virgil chuckled before he moved on to an easel in the corner. His breath caught in his throat at who was painted on a cross-section of tree log.

**"Remus died a week before we left, but Vee had already started to memorialize him."**

There was a picture of Remus in the top corner that was being used as a reference. Virgil took the photo and put it in his book for later... no, for him, not anyone else.

He moved on to see the second shrine in the room. This one was under a large old photograph of Brian, Vee's father.

**"Her room was like a museum."**

Virgil picked up a blue view master on the shrine and held it up to his eyes. He began to look through the photos and read the captions

**"For 500 years, the Sanders have been famous throughout Norway for their fortune... and misfortune. Brian Sanders buries the latest victims of the family curse: his husband Apollo and their newborn son Jericho. On January 7th, 1936, he sets sail with his family- and his house- hoping to leave the curse behind. But 40-foot waves off the coast of Florida send the house and Brian to the bottom of the sea. Brian's son Andy Virgil "Vee", with husband Hartley and baby Thomas, step ashore on their new home, Orcas Island. Brian Sanders is the first to be buried in the new family cemetery. His son Vee is already freaking of a new Sanders house."**

Virgil out the viewfinder down and reopened his book to his family tree. Using the photograph as a reference, he added a drawing of Brian next to his name.

**"Whatever's wrong with this family, it goes back a long way."**

Virgil closed the book and sighed before moving away, across the room to the bathroom. On the bathroom door was an old picture of Vee sitting in bed with Virgil on one side and Virgil's dad on the other.

**"Even in his 90s, sometimes Vee seemed a lot younger than my father."**

Virgil stepped into the bathroom. It was all orange, orange textured rug, orange walls, orange cabinets. Everything.

**"The only trace Grandpa Patton's first husband Mike left on the house was the orange bathroom... It was a pretty big trace."**

Two things stuck out. A green wind-up frog in the counter, and a padlocked book above the orange toilet. Virgil stood on the toilet lid- which had a fuzzy orange cover- and tried his key in the lock. It worked and the book "There's a Secret in this Bathroom" by Hartley and Vee Sanders was opened to show two colored pages with pull out tabs. Great Grandpa Hartley stood in the center, telling the twin boys:

**"There's a secret in this bathroom."**

Virgil pulled out the left-most tab, revealing under the sink.

**"It's in the last place you would look."**

He pulled the next tab to change the first boy's face to s frown.

**"It isn't in the cupboard."**

Virgil pulled the last tab to reveal a turnable lock.

**"It's hidden in this book."**

He turned the lock and the cut out behind the toilet fell away. Virgil closed the book and climbed through, gently jumping down onto the floor. He was in a development room with a plethora of developed photographs like one of a swing set.

**"Hartley gave Patton an old camera he'd refurbished. He never put it down."**

Virgil moved past the old photographs to the next passage. Virgil got on his hands and knees. Directly ahead was a painting of a swing on the brick wall with black paint.

**"From the paintings on the wall, it was clear my brother Roman had been here before me."**

Virgil moved through, pushing a chair out of the way so he could finally stand up. The room was split down the middle. One side was light blue. The other was light brown and pink.

On the blue side, there were so many photos of two twin boys together. There were carvings of cats out of wood, books on photography. There was also a lot of stuff for the outdoors like deer antlers and a log cabin looking bed. On the bed was "Fort Patton" carved into it

Painted on the door were two boys with glasses: One was dressed as a Boy Scout. The other was dressed in a tie and a sweater vest with many books in his arms. Both were smiling. Above them, little lined to show height were marked on the door with years next to them. The boy scout had more lines.

The light brown and pink side of the room bursting with books. Surrounding and even part of the bed were bookshelves filled with books of various subjects. Stories, encyclopedias, scientific books. They all had their own order too. 

**"I knew grandpa Patton had a twin, and that he never talked about him."**

Virgil moved the red rope sectioning off that side of the room. There was a small staircase with a bridge that led to a small alcove. Virgil crawled across to it. Above the entrance to the alcove was "Emile's Reading Nook" painted in pink letters. It was cozy inside with pillows and a lamp. It was perfect for someone to read in.

**"I guess my grandpa didn't like history any more than my mom did."**

There was a shrine here too. A painting of a rosy-cheeked boy with glasses, holding a book. The same book seemed to be here in front of Virgil's now. "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne. There were a lot of candles too. Inside the front cover of the book was a piece of paper. Virgil took it.


	7. How I Want to Remember my Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Patton Sanders

**"The thing I remember is that when my brother got curious about something, that was it. He had to find out just what it meant."**

Patton looked towards the sunset through his camera lenses, standing right up next to the fence that separated him from the steep drop of the cliff.

Emile sat on the swing that was tied to the nearby tree. It faced the sea, showing off the beautiful view, but that was not what was on his mind.

**"My brother wanted to learn why the snails in the garden were slimy, so he found a book on it and read the whole thing, even though it took him a whole Saturday."**

Emile began to swing forward and back, pushing and pulling.

**"At Remy's funeral, we swore we'd never be afraid again. And he wasn't."**

Emile began to swing harder.

**"I think Emile was always curious about flying."**

The swing creaked as he began to go higher. Then their dad called them in for dinner. Patton immediately ran to get inside. Emile couldn't stop now though. He had to know.

**"He read every book we had on airplanes and birds and bats, but it wasn't enough. It didn't fulfill his curiosity. So that day, he finally made up his mind to find out for himself. I had told him that it was impossible, that it wouldn't happen. Maybe if I hadn't said that."**

Emile heard his dad call again, but he didn't care. He had to do it. He needed to know.

**"Or maybe if the wind hadn't picked up... then maybe he'd still be here."**

Emile could feel the wind on his back then his chest. It ruffled his hair and skewed his glasses on his face.

**"But I doubt it"**

Was this what flying felt like?

**"I think he'd already made up his mind that he was going to find out. That's what I want to remember about my brother."**

Emile didn't want this to ever stop, even as he went around once... twice... snap.

**"The day he wanted to fly."**

**"And he did."**


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On and On Virgil goes, making it to Hollywood

Virgil out the paper back into the book and set it back on the shrine. He pulled out his family tree and drew him: a boy with glasses, reading on a swing.

**"Emile's story felt strangely familiar. When I was younger, I remember trying to go around on the swing too."**

Virgil crawled out of the alcove, across the bridge and down onto the floor. He stood and stepped over the red rope on the floor.

**"After the funeral, Vee roped off Emile's half of the room."**

Virgil looked around once more before finding himself in the corner, looking at a strange set of books on the bookshelf. They were in rainbow order, each smaller than the last. There was a latch on the biggest book. Virgil pushed the smallest book in. It fit inside of the others perfectly before the latch fell, revealing a spring-loaded handle that he was able to pull up on to reveal the next passageway. He made sure the fake bookcase was out of the way before crawling on.

**"The passages were a pretty tight fit. They'd obviously been built for smaller hands and bellies."**

Virgil passed by a set of glass cabinet doors that led out into the hallway and away from the room ahead, which seemed right up his alley with a jack-o'-lantern silhouette painted on the wall. So, Virgil ignored the doors and continued on to the room ahead.

Virgil crawled ahead to find that Roman had painted the jack-o'-lantern. It made Virgil smile. He then looked up and saw Bigfoot! He yelled and jumped in surprise, hitting his head gently on the ceiling of the passage. He cursed and rubbed his head. A second glance told him it was the cardboard cut out. He knew whose room this was. He climbed up and out of the passageway.

**"Growing up, I always thought of Remy as a child star."**

There was a mural of the Hollywood sign with "Remy" as the words on the mountain. A poster and other memorabilia were in a glass case next to the cut out of Bigfoot with young Remy from the movie.

Past red curtains was the rest of his bedroom. Boy band posters with hearts drawn on them. A record player and records galore. Magazines, both fashion and celebrity. Books on Cinema. Even a Remy Street sign on his bed.

Then there was the shrine. Remy had always been handsome, even in his stuffy teal and pink diner. A movie reel propped up again the wall. A vase of dead flowers. White candles, and his sunglasses, which were on his head in the painting. Under the sunglasses was a comic book. Virgil picked it up and sat down on the bed.

The Dreadful Stores comic book with a screaming Remy on the front.

 **"Of all the stories people wrote about Remy's death, I'm surprised Vee saved this one."**  
  
Virgil opened the comic and began to read.


	9. Dreadful Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guest Starring Remy Sanders

The pumpkin-headed host began his narration with a wicked grin.

**"Old Jack here with another ghastly tale inspired by America's most unfortunate family. I'm calling it... The Surprise Ending of Remy Sanders!"**

The big screen of the movie theater showed a young Remy, looking shocked.

**"As a child star, Remy was famous for his scream."**

Young Remy on-screen screamed at Big Foot.

Then it cut to an older Remy, wearing his work uniform and checking the mail on his way home from work.

**"Now at 16, he was all washed up, a has-been."**

He then saw something in the mail that made his eyes light up.

**"But in a lucky break, he'd been asked to perform her signature scream at a local convention for monster movie fans. It was just the boost his career needed!"**

Remy invited over his boyfriend to practice his scream.

**"Unfortunately, his scream hadn't aged well."**

Pryce, Remy's football quarterback boyfriend, listened to his cracked scream before frowning.

"Mmmm. Getting better. I think you just need the right motivation."

**"His biggest fan (and current boyfriend) Pryce was about to demonstrate when-"**

A loud scream came from downstairs. 

"Now that was a great scream."

Remy rushed downstairs with Pryce following on his crutches, having busted his knee in practice last week. Remy gasped when his father- guided by his dad- came out of the basement, dripping blood from a towel wrapped around his hand.

**"It was Remy's father, Hartley. He'd slipped into a table saw and had to be rushed to the emergency room. So Remy was stuck watching his youngest brother Logan. His convention comeback was canceled."**

Remy screamed again. Pryce listened from the couch, thinking.

"Okay, I'm hearing frustration, but I'm not hearing terror. What if I tried-"

The radio cut him off.

**"A gang of hoodlums in Halloween masks have been terrorizing Orcas Island tonight! Police are urging residents to-"**

There was suddenly a loud crash.

"That came from the basement!" Remy turned to look at the basement door. The trail of blood through the hallway had been cleaned up.

"You're right!" Pryce then smiled. "Also, I love your delivery on that." He kissed Remy's cheek. He went over and tried to open the door. It didn't budge. "Why is your basement door locked?"

"Because my father likes making puzzles and secret passages." Remy rolled his eyes, moving his sunglasses to on top is of his head. "There's a key hidden in the music box." Remy moved around Pryce and began to turn the crank. "The secret is to keep winding... and winding... until finally, the key pops out." Remy pulled the key out as the lid opened and the song began.

Pyrce just shrugged it off and took the key, "Thanks, babe. I'll be back in a sec." He kissed Remy's cheek again before opening the door and going downstairs, crutches and all.

**"Twenty minutes later, Pryce hadn't returned. So Remy went to look for him, right on cue."**

The key was still in the door. He slowly opened the door.

**"He listened for Pryce, but the house was silent."**

Remy slowly walked downstairs. The light shade swung back and forth on the ceiling. At the bottom of the stairs was a single crutch.

**"He found Pryce's crutch and imagined the worst."**

Remy picked it up, holding it like a weapon and walking towards his father's woodworking room. There was blood on the floor and a bloody handprint on the door. He used the crutch to push the door open. As he walked over to look at his father's bloody table saw, another radio broadcast came on.

**"The gang's leader is the infamous hookman killer, Dr. Karl Hamel, who impaled and then are his family ten years ago tonight."**

Remy paid it no mind. The light overhead blinked, showing off his father's horrifying wooden creatures. Remy turned to the next doorway, which had a punching bag hanging in the middle of it. Remy walked around it into the unused part of the basement. To this right was a refrigerator with a blinking light over it. Remy nervously walked towards it, holding the crutch ready.

**"The old fridge rattled and grew still..."**

"Rooooaaar!" Something jumped out of the fridge.

"Oh shit!!" Remy swung the crutch, knocking the mask off the person to show Pryce, who then held his nose. "Pryce???"

Remy was furious, storming upstairs. Pryce followed up behind him a few moments later. "Hey, Rem, come on!"

"That wasn't funny, Pryce! Get out!" He pointed to the door.

"Rem, relax. I was just trying to scare you to help you find your scream." He told him from on the porch.

"Well, I'm not scared, Pryce. I'm furious!" Remy shouted.

Pryce huffed. "Then act furious! All I'm getting from you that is you're hurt and confused and you're-"

He didn't get to finish as Remy slammed the door in his face.

**"He threw him out, but he kept a little something to remember him by."**

"Hey, Rem? Have you seen my other crutch?" He asked from the other side of the door. Remy didn't answer him, taking the crutch and going into the living room.

**"And he was still holding it when he fell asleep watching the late-late picture show."**

At midnight, Remy woke to the sound of Logan calling out to him. "Logan? What's going on up there?"

Logan screamed and Remy went running, crutch in hand. "I'm coming, Logan. If this is a truck, you're dead meat."

He was halfway up the stairs when the roller skate that was apart of his uniform came rolling down the stairs. Remy sidestepped out of its path. He kept walking, holding the crutch like a bat. He could hear Logan's radio broadcasting static.

Remy entered Logan's room. "Logan? Are you there?" He whispered. Logan's bed was a bunk bed with the bottom bunk in use. There was a curtain that hid that part of the bed from view. Remy moved the curtain with the crutch to find the bed empty.

**"Logan had vanished, but his bedside radio was still on..."**

The broadcast came through.

**"Orcas Island Police describe the man as 6 feet tall, with a steel hook for a hand. Residents are urged to lock all doors and windows and notify the police of any suspicious activity-"**

Remy heard footsteps in the doorway.

**"Remy turned, saw the hookman, and..."**

Remy gasped.

**"was speechless."**

The hook man moved forward, swing his hook hand. Remy was quick to move and block his hook with the crutch. They struggled until Remy kicked him in the gut, sending him backward. Remy was quick to shut and lock the door. He began to bang on the door, trying to get in.

**"Whoever he was, he couldn't get enough of Remy!"**

"Okay, Remy. There's gotta be another way out of here." He whispered to himself. He then saw that the passage between Logan's room and Thomas's room was open. He quickly crawled in.

**"That night, he played his part beautifully."**

Remy crawled to the other side and looked at the window.

**"He thought about abandoning Logan but just couldn't do it."**

Remy shook his head and walked over to the door.

**"Thomas's door hadn't been opened in years The hinges groaned."**

Remy cursed internally but was relieved when the hookman didn't turn. He snuck up on the hook man, hitting him in the back of the head. He stumbled back in surprise before slipping on the other skate and falling over the railing. He crashed into the glass table below. Remy looked over the railing at him.

**"He wasn't moving, but Remy sensed the story might not be over yet."**

Remy crept down the stairs and around the corner to the living room. It was empty!

**"The hookman had vanished! He listened for his breathing, but all he heard was-"**

The doorbell rang, and Remy jumped, gasping. He turned to the door and walked towards it slowly, crutch ready.

**"At the door, he heard whispering... It was coming from inside the house!"**

Remy spun around at the figures creeping up behind him and gasped. "Oh shit!"

"Surprise!!!"

"Bravo, Remy!"

"You were wonderful!

"We love you!"

**"The monsters had come to surprise him! For Remy, it was a dream come true... Then he realized what kind of monsters they were, and he realized what was about to happen."**

**"He was going to be famous."**

**"And with his final breath, Remy Sanders gave the performance of his life."**

**"I wasn't there myself, but I hear Remy was magnificent! Poor boy! He had a taste for stardom... but unfortunately, so did his fans!"**

**"Of course, the police blamed it all on poor Pryce, who disappeared the same night."**

**"And Little Logan? Hiding under his bed the whole time! He took it all pretty hard, but that's another story."**

**"As for Remy, tucked inside the music box was all they ever found of him."**

**"His sunglasses with his eyes peering through"**

**"Now that's what I call a real, eye-catching ending!!"**


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down into the belly of the beast

Virgil closed the comic book with a shutter. The back cover depicted the inside of the music box with a pair of bloody sunglasses and two eyeballs. He placed the comic book back on the shrine where he found it. He pulled out his book and drew Remy, sunglasses and all, swinging the crutches like a bat.

**"Vee told me all Remy wanted was to be remembered. As absurd as that comic was, maybe what Vee saw was a happy ending."**

Virgil closed the book and walked away, back into the passageway. He crawled towards the two glass doors that led out to the hallway. He opened the latch and pushed the doors open, crawling out into the hallway.

**"I guess now I know why dad didn't like me playing with the music box."**

Virgil frowned and stood. He decided to go downstairs to the basement as there were no more rooms left up here and the third floor was locked off.

**"It's funny, all those times I played with the music box and never found the basement key."**

Virgil walked down the staircase. It was getting dark out, making it harder to see in the house. He stepped up to the music box and wound and wound and wound until, pop! The key came right out to Virgil's surprise. It wasn't a tabloid lie. Virgil unlocked the basement door. The music box played on behind him as he walked down the stairs.

A lot of the walls of the basement were not complete, showing off the installation. There was a pool table in the center of the room, looking like someone had stopped mid-game. The washer and dryer were on one wall under the windows, which allowed light into the room. He walked through the musty air to Hartley's dusty workshop. On the tables were so many unfinished projects. Virgil saw a pile of log cross-sections like the one used for the paintings on the shrines upstairs. Virgil didn't want to think about what that meant.

**"Dad said the basement was off-limits unless I wanted another tetanus shot."**

Virgil made sure not to touch the table saw as he walked past, following the path Remy did in the comic. Except this time, the punching bag hung in the corner and not in the doorway.

**"I saw Vee sneak down to the basement once, carrying packages. I thought maybe he was hiding presents."**

Virgil walked towards the fridge. As he grabbed the door handle, he was a little scared that something was about to jump out.

But it didn't.

**"It turned out, he was hiding a lot more than that."**

Virgil's eyes widened. The back of the fridge was partially open! Virgil pushed it to reveal a tunnel! Virgil started to follow it.

 **"I remember asking dad once about where Logan had gone."**

At the end was a storage hallway filled with boxes and cans.

**"He said after Remy said, he got as far away as he could."**

Virgil walked down the hallway to a living area.

**"If there's a pattern in all these stories, I think it's that none of us have gotten very far."**

The entire area was cramped and messy. There was a bunk bed with "Logan" written in the top bunk. The bottom bunch was a work station. Across from the bed was a small kitchen. 

A shrine was set up in the kitchen area. "Logan, 1952-2005". The painting showed an old man with tired eyes behind his glasses. There were cans of peaches and a can opener on the shrine. On a pull-out table under the shrine, there was a notepad. Virgil sat on the stood across from the table and picked up the notepad.

Neat blue lettering greeted Virgil as he began to read.


	11. Goodbye Everyone

**"I can't believe I've been down here for thirty years."**

The calendar year was 1968. The clock on the counter changed to 12:00. The whole room began to shake.

**"On that first day, after the shaking started, I didn't think I'd survive a week."**

The shaking died down and he took his can opener, opening the can of Crofters Brand peaches in front of him.

**"But after a few days, I settled into a routine."**

He kept turning the can opener.

**"That's what kept me sane."**

More turning and turning.

**"Having a schedule. Living for today."**

He lifted the lid, picked up the can, and brought it to his mouth, eating the peaches.

**"I always expected to be dead tomorrow."**

1976\. The clock turned to 12:00 and the rumbling started.

**"But if you wait long enough, you get used to anything."**

The rumbling stopped, and he started turning the can opener.

**"Even a monster on the other side of the door starts to feel normal."**

Turning and turning.

**"Almost friendly."**

He lifted the lid, picked up the can, and brought it to his mouth, eating the peaches.

**"And then one day, everything just..."**

2005\. The clock turned to 12:00.

**"stopped."**

He paused, stopping his hand halfway to the can opener. He looked around. He then started to turn the can opener like usual.

**"Whatever that thing was, it was gone. Maybe it got tired of waiting..."**

Turning and turning.

**"Or maybe I just got tired of being afraid."**

He lifted the lid, picked up the can, and brought it to his mouth, eating the peaches.

2005\. The clock turned to 12:00.

Except for this time, there wasn't a can of peaches in front of him.

**"It's been a week now, the longest in 30 years."**

He got up from his seat.

**"I'm done waiting."**

On the floor in front of his large bookshelves was a hatch. 

**"I have to leave while I still can."**

He lifted it up to reveal a ladder going down. He climbed down to another dirt tunnel. He walked along it.

**"I know it's still out there somewhere. Whatever killed Remy..."**

He entered a big room with a pit on one side and a partially uncovered wall of white bricks.

**"and Thomas..."**

He walked over to the brick wall.

**"and Emile..."**

He picked up a sledgehammer.

**"Maybe this is all a mistake."**

He took a swing.

**"But I need to stop living the same day."**

Swing!

**"Even if it kills me."**

Swing! The brick wall crumbled. The sledgehammer slipped from his hands and to the floor with a thud. He climbed through, falling gently into a tunnel made of the same white bricks. Up ahead, there was light. He began to walk towards it, not realizing he was walking along train tracks.

**"Whatever's out there, I want you to know I'm ready for it. I'm going to appreciate all of it. Especially the food. I don't mind if I only have one year left it a month or a single week."**

He exited the tunnel. The breeze swept through his hair. He smiled.

**"I'd be happy with one new day."**

The birds chirped. He stopped and spread out his arms, looking up towards the sky. Then the horn sounded, and there was light.

**"I can already imagine the sun on my face."**

And it all went white.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Virgil continues on, he shares his thoughts about his family's curse.

Virgil put down the notepad in silent shock, pushing the pull-out table back in. He pulled out his book and sketched out Logan, a tired man with glasses and a necktie, holding a can of Crofters Brand peaches.

**"Logan died when I was six. I can't believe my dad never told me he was down here."**

Virgil closed the book with a sigh. He turned to his left walked towards the end of the living area that housed a large bookshelf on one wall. An artificial window was on the other, showing a painting instead of the actual outside.

**"I'm sure my dad was trying to protect me."**

Virgil opened the hatch on the floor in front of the bookcase and took his time climbing down the ladder.

**"Maybe he was afraid I'd end up like Logan."**

Virgil let his hand run along the dirt wall of the tunnel. It was surprisingly sturdy.

**"But if he never told me about an uncle under the house..."**

Virgil came to the end of the tunnel where there was a large room.

**"I can only imagine what else he was hiding."**

Virgil walked over to the far wall where there was a sledgehammer and knocked out white bricks.

**"I don't want to make the same mistakes he made."**

Virgil sat on the floor, sticking his legs into the hole.

**"Trying to bury something that's still alive."**

He slid down into the hole and landed on rocky ground. He leaned on the wall and took a breather. It was dark all around him. Virgil looked around until he saw soft light up ahead.

**"Now that there's only one of us left, or maybe two..."**

Virgil began to walk towards the light. Pebbles crunched beneath his feet. Steel train tracks reflected the light too, guiding him. Virgil thought he could almost hear a train horn.

**"I thought it was time I heard the stories for myself and found out what happened to everyone else."**

Virgil exited the tunnel.

**"But now I'm worried the stories themselves might be the problem. Maybe we believed so much in a family curse..."**

He stopped at a second memorial to Logan. Virgil frowned at the train toy on it. He thought about chucking it into the sea not far away.

**"We made it real."**

Virgil followed the tracks to where they cut off abruptly at the edge of a cliff. Out in the distance, Virgil could see something sticking up out of the water. He knew what it was. He turned away and started walking down the path to his left. Up in the trees along the path, fold-out chairs were forever stuck in the branches.

**"I don't know if I should even be writing this..."**

The path turned to sand below Virgil's feet the further he went.

**"Maybe it'd be better if all this just died with me."**

Virgil stepped down onto the shore. Huge terrifying wooden statues were rotting here. Virgil couldn't look at them.

**"But I thought you should know about your family."**

Virgil stepped right up to where the waves were. The thing in the water was a lot closer now. He frowned.

**"And the history you're apart of."**

Virgil turned and walked away, up a staircase that led away from the beach.

**"Though to be honest, I feel as lost as you probably do right now."**

There were more stairs leading up the cliffs.

**"I think the people in these stories believed them for what that's worth."**

Virgil took another look at the water before walking up the stairs. He saw the house up ahead of himself. 

**"And when you look up at the house... at that history of imagination and stubbornness and madness."**

He pushed a gate open and was at the back yard of the house.

**"Any of it seems possible."**

Above Virgil's head, a broken swing hung from the tree that made Virgil go pale. It swayed with the breeze. Virgil shivered. Even with his comfort hoodie, the chill crept up Virgil's back. Virgil turned to his right, away from the house. He walked that way.

**"I think we've been surrounded by death for so long we've just gotten used to it."**

Virgil saw what was ahead and felt the chill strengthen. 

**"What kind of family builds the cemetery before building the house?"**

Virgil walked towards the graves. People's names were not the first ones he saw.

**"It's embarrassing for me to admit this, but the pet cemetery made me more uncomfortable than the human one."**

There were dozens of graves in this part. Virgil saw one for Sacagawea the hamster. 

**"Three of the tarantulas were mine. Two had been my fault."**

He didn't stay long though and moved on to where the bigger graves were. Each of them was special.

**"Hartley built the house, but it was Vee who designed the cemetery."**

Thomas's grave had a sleeping stone cat with a star in its paws on top of it.

Emile's grave showed a boy with wings.

Hartley's and Vee's graves were together. Hartley's looked like it had a metal saw sawing into the stone. Vee's had a book with all the letters flying out of it. 

Logan's was a large rock with a hole inside. Virgil looked into the hole. Through the hole, it looked like a man was leaving a cave and looking out to the sea.

Remy's grave looked like a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

**"I'm sure Brian's monument had been Vee's idea. My dad was always trying to move on, but for Vee, the past never went away."**

Virgil walked up to the peak of a cliff. There were two statues here. One of Vee and Hartley on a lifeboat. Vee had a baby in his arms. Vee was reaching out to the other statue. The other statue showed the top of the house with Brian standing on top, saluting out to the ocean, directly where the house was in the water.

**"He could see it poking out of the water at low tide."**

There was a spyglass around the cliff. Virgil went down and looked into it. He focused in on the old house and the red-lighted buoy. It was destroyed and mostly in the water.

**"Vee said he dreamed about the old house every night."**

Virgil moved away, continuing to the rest of the cemetery.

**"Vee's side was always easier for me to understand, but the older I get, the more I can see where my had was coming from."**

Virgil approached three graves. The one in the middle had a metal sash of metal Boy Scout patches and metal military medals on it; "Patton". The one on the right had a small medal kite attached to the top; "Nate". The one on the left was plain; "Toby".

**"His dad had been pretty strict, but it wasn't enough to save his brothers. He was just trying to do better."**

Virgil moved on to three final graves.

**"He lost two of his brothers just like I did. I get why he tried to hard to protect us."**

Virgil looked at the left-most grave

**"We never found Roman's body, so my dad insisted we were putting up a monument and not a tombstone."**

Roman's grave- no, monument- had a hand coming out. That hand held a paintbrush.

Imani's grave looked plain compared to everyone else's. Virgil had never met Imani. He had died before Virgil turned 3. Virgil wished he could have known him.

Virgil looked at Remus's grave. The wind made his eyes tear up. Yep. That was Virgil's excuse. There was a crown on Remus's grave. It wasn't stone like the others. It was made of metal. Virgil missed his big brother. Virgil remained at this grave a lot longer before he turned and continued down the path, wiping away his tears.

**"There are so many things I wish I could ask my dad now. Part of me thinks this is what he wanted all along. For me to come back someday and find everything out for myself."**

The wooden stairs creak beneath his feet as he walked up them to the big tree in the yard. There was a ladder leading up to a platform above. Virgil began climbing.

The platform was old and weathered, but there were chairs, and Virgil took a moment to catch his breath on it. It was a lot. When he stood up again, he knew where he was going: Grandpa Patton's deck.

**"But looking back on it now..."**

Virgil looked for a way onto the roof. He found it. A branch that looked like it could hold his weight.

**"If he'd told me there was going to be so much climbing..."**

He stepped into it and carefully began to shuffle across. It cracked a little, but Virgil kept moving.

**"I never would have come when I was 22 weeks pregnant."**

Virgil stepped onto the roof with relief. His hand went to his swollen belly as he walked over to the small deck that had an American flag hanging off it. Luckily, there was a ladder to climb to get up.

**"I never met grandpa Patton, but I think he and my dad had a lot in common."**

Virgil walked to the sliding glass door and opened it.

**"They were bother pretty intense."**

Virgil jumped at the bearskin rug. There were so many taxidermied animals around the room. On the desk was the shrine to him. 

The painting showed a man with a Marine hat. His smile looked fake like it was something he had put on that morning. There were a camera and a wedding ring. There were plenty of pictures too. Some of Patton and Emile. Others of Virgil's dad as a kid. There was an envelope of developed photos too. Virgil picked it up and started looking through it.


	13. Chapter 13

The first photo was one of an older Patton, making a photo in the mirror.

The next showed a younger Janus in bed with his hands over his face.

In the third, Patton was packing up the car for the trip.

**"Janus, I promise, you'll never forget this weekend."**

Patton aimed the camera at a younger Janus in the passenger seat, who was reading a book. Patton focused on the camera.

 **"Yes sir,"** Janus answered, not looking away from his book.

**"These memories are gonna last a lifetime, kiddo."**

Click! **"Perfect!"** Patton smiled.

 **"Am I gonna have to shoot anything?"** Janus asked.

\----------

 **"It's gonna rain the whole weekend, isn't it?"** Janus asked Patton from where he stood under his yellow umbrella, book in hand. He was in front of the "Brian Sanders National Park" sign.

As Patton focused the camera, Janus looked up from his book and sarcastically claimed, **"I will never forget this weekend, Dad."**

 **"That's the spirit, kiddo!!"** Patton smiled.

Click!

\----------

Then Janus was standing on the trail.

 **"I'm gonna take some pictures, okay?"** Janus asked, looking through the camera.

 **"Just be careful,"** Patton warned. **"That camera's older than you are."**

Janus began to focus it in and out on the trees until he saw a bird on a branch not that far away.

Click!

 **"You're right, Dad. It's starting to clear up."** Janus was happy to see some sun peaking through the clouds. **"Still freezing though."** He mumbled.

Janus began to look around for more photo opportunities. He spotted his dad peeing on a tree.

 **"Definitely should not have drunk all that coffee."** He could hear his dad say to himself. Janus smirked.

Click!

 **"Hey!"** Patton yelled out.

Janus laughed. **"That's a keeper!"**

\----------

Janus still had the camera for the next photo. **"Hold still while I take a picture of you."**

 **"I'm just saying, I'm not always gonna be here, Janus. You'll need to remember this stuff, kiddo. If you want to survive."** Patton's voice was more sad and serious than Janus had heard in a long time.

 **"I'll be fine, Dad."** Janus pointed the camera at Patton, who was looking at the map.

 **"You know who else thought he was gonna be fine?"** Patton asked.

Click!

 **"Some guy who died?"** Janus joked.

**"Janus, I'm being serious."**

**"I know, Dad. You're always serious."** Janus frowned, thinking of Vee's stories about how silly and fun his dad was when he was younger.

He turned the camera away from his dad to a squirrel.

Click!

 **"Doesn't bring out here make you want to chill out?"** Janus asked.

 **"Well, to tell you the truth, kiddo, I haven't been out here in 20 years."** Patton almost sounded ashamed.

Janus turned around to look at more of the forest. He snapped some pictures of the river and the rocks.

 **"Last time, I was with my brother, Emile. Man, that was a great trip."** Patton sounded sad.

Janus adjusted the soon and spotted a big buck. **"Dad!"** He whispered.

Patton came over. **"Good eyes, Janus!"**

Click!

\----------

Patton held the camera this time. **"Before you take the shot, let me get a picture of you, kiddo."**

Janus was kneeling behind a log with the rifle. He looked unsure.

 **"Dad, I-"** He looked down the scope.

 **"Just breathe."** Patton encouraged with a smile.

Click!

\----------

 **"Lemme get behind you."** Patton moved to behind Janus and aimed his camera where Janus aimed the gun. The buck was on a hill leading to a cliff.

 **"Do I have to do this?"** Janus asked.

Patton looked to his son. **"Janus, you don't have to anything, but if you wanna survive, you need to be strong."**

Janus nodded and took a deep breath. Patton readied his camera.

Click! Boom!!

 **"Great shot, Janus!!"** Patton assured.

\----------

Janus couldn't help but sob over the buck as Patton set up the tripod and timer. He was practically shaking with pride.

 **"I'm so proud of you, kiddo!"** Patton had this big smile. **"Always remember that, OK?"**

Patron hurried over while the timer went. He stepped to behind its head.

Janus paused. **"Dad, it's twitching. I think it's still..."**

Patton picked up the antlers. **"That's totally normal, Janus. Just focus on the camera and try not to think about-"**

The buck suddenly shook, pushing Patton off the cliffside.

 **"DAD!!"** Janus screeched, reaching.

Click!


	14. Chapter 14

Virgil looked at that final picture in the picture set before putting it down. He pulled out his notebook and drew Patton: an old man with a smile and a gun.

"Of all these stories, that's the one I wish most that my dad had told me."

Virgil put the book away. He looked to a framed photograph to his right. Patton, Mike, Janus, Nate, and Toby were kneeling behind shot deer.

"Patton spent his life shooting photos, but dad said he got nervous being in front of the camera. I guess we're all afraid of something. Instead of hiding from death, Patton seemed to go out of his way to meet it."

Across from the shrine was a small sliding door. Virgil opened it to show another passage, lit by moonlight. Virgil was carefully to walk only on the beams and not the insulation as he walked over to a raised platform by the windows. He began to crawl.

"After Patton died, my dad and Vee got really close. They'd both lost a lot."

Virgil approached a gate with a childproof lock. Virgil unlocked the gate and pushed it forward. There was a lilypad mat on the floor next to a crib. Virgil went pale. The crib was a shrine...

The crib was decorated in bows and flowers. Rubber duckies, candles, and plastic cartoony Halloween toys were in the crib. Propped up in the pillows was a painting of a smiling, laughing baby. Next to the painting was a packet of papers. Virgil hesitantly picked them up. Divorce papers between Patton and Mike. 

Virgil looked through until he saw the last page, where Patton had written Mike a letter.


	15. Dear Mike

**"Do you remember the way Toby used to laugh when he thought he was alone?"**

**"Like something funny was happening, but only he could see it."**

Toby was sitting in the bath, giggling as he splashed the water. His wind-up frog was gripped in his tiny fist.

**"I think he saw things the rest of us don't."**

The frog then jumped from his hand and dived into the water.

Mike then opened the shower door. "Bathtime's over, Toby." He reached down to pull the drain plug. "It's time to..." Mike stopped when the phone rang. Mike looked angry before smiling at Toby. "Hold on, Sweetie." 

Mike closed the door and answered the phone. "Hello? Patton, I told you I don't want to talk right now."

The frog swam through the tub. Bubbles with rubber duckies inside floated down out of nowhere. The frog jumped up and popped them. 

**"I wonder what he saw, what his world was like."**

With each pop, the ducks formed a line and swam in a formation.

**"He reminded me so much off Emile."**

The frog began to knock off each of the magnetized letters on the side of the tub that spelled Toby.

**"Lost in his imagination."**

The frog then leaped high out of the water. The little toy people on the edge of the tub cheered and jumped into the tub. They followed the frog with each jump.

**"Whatever it was he saw..."**

The frog kept onto the large whale toy on the corner of the tub. It jumped into the water with the frog, excited.

**"It sure made him happy."**

Toby giggled and splashed happily again.

The frog flipped the whale onto his belly, and the wale was very happy. The frog was then able to bounce on the whales back. Toby clapped his hands as he watched the frog go up. More toys from up above jumped into the tub as well with a cheer.

The frog then bounced up and knocked the shampoo bottle off the high shelf and into the water.

**"I know how silly it sounds that I worried about a baby being too happy, but I could feel him slipping away..."**

Mike slid open the shower door again. "Sorry about that, Toby." He pulled the drain plug and moved away.

**"I know you did everything you could."**

The water drained as Mike closed the door.

**"Maybe if I hadn't called that night..."**

The phone rang, and Mike cursed as he went to answer it. "Hold on, I don't want Toby to hear this."

The frog bounced off the whale and hit the tub handle on the way down, turning on the water.

**"I wish he could have told us."**

The tub began to fill with water.

**"About the world he saw."**

The water came above Toby's head.

**"Mike, there's so much I don't understand."**

Toby's arms were green with webbed hands as he swam through the seaweed and large magnet letters.

**"About Toby..."**

His toy Halloween friends swam ahead of him. He followed, swimming happily.

**"About everything..."**

Ahead, his friends and his whale were waiting.

**"But I know what happened wasn't your fault."**

As he got closer, he saw the duckies there too! They all surrounded the drain plug. It was pulled up quickly as he approached.

**"I'm sure he's happy."**

Toby swam down into the bright drain.

**"And he'd want you to be happy too."**

**"Good luck, Mike."**

**"Love Patton."**


	16. Chapter 16

Virgil closed the divorce contract and set it back down in the crib. He pulled out his journal and drew a very happy baby holding a frog toy. He was silent as he moved through the room, past a bed without a mattress marked "Janus"

The last bed had a shrine on the trunk at the foot of the bed. VHS movies about heroes were stacked around the shrine. A leather jacket was folded onto the shrine. A painting of a boy in a black leather jacket and black sunglasses leaned against the bed frame. There was a spool of kite string that lead up to a kite by the window above the bed. The kite looked like a superhero.

On the spool of string, there a paper rolled around it. Virgil picked up the spool.

**"I can't imagine my dad ever writing poetry, and yet..."**

Virgil turned to spool to read the poem.


	17. A Poem for Nate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who always said the wedding was a bad idea

**Our Father never hit us kids, at least not very hard.**   
**Before the day my brother said with teenage disregard.**   
**That he'd be dead before he'd see a wedding in our yard.**

Nate stood underneath the totem pole, kite spool in hand. His sunglasses blocked out the Sun enough that he could easily look up at his kite. There were people along the shore, chatting and smiling happily with each other. Nate paid them no mind.

**My father made him come of course, but Nate stood far apart.**   
**Just flew his kite and bottled up the storm inside his heart.**

Nate made his kite soar to the left towards the dock and the wedding tent. Then it veered to the left, over the people.

**I tried to talk him out of it, but though he'd never met him**   
**"We don't need a stepdad," were the words that I remember.**

Nate heard the priest say that they were married. Nate frowned deeper but didn't look that way. He ignored the cheers and applause.

**When the time for photos came, Dad ordered him to "Come here!"**   
**But Nate declined and as a sign held up his middle finger.**

"Kiddo, come on. It's time for pictures." Patton called up to Nate. Nate stuck up his middle finger and held it out towards Patton. Patton gasped before grumbling and walking away. "Let's just let him fly his kite."

Then dark clouds rolled in.

**The wind picked up and panicked geese appeared and quickly went.**   
**But all the humans did that day was go inside the tent.**

Nate heard the honking of geese above him. He smiled. The kite gave a tug, fighting for control, but Nate had a handle on it. He didn't notice that the party was moving into the large white tent, but he wouldn't have cared either way.

**The rain came down in buckets then but no one seemed afraid.**   
**That nature might destroy the tent our dad had crudely made.**

Nate ignored that he was getting wet. The kite took a sharp dive towards the chairs and alter. As Nate tried pulling the kite back up, the chairs swept up into the trail of the kite like a tail. Nate's eyes widened, and he didn't stop the kite.

**The thunder sounded much too close and full of angry power**   
**But all my father said to this was "Make the music louder!"**

Nate swept the kite over to the outdoor tables and was thrilled to see them also get swept up with the kite. The noise was loud, but the music from inside the tent got louder too. He saw the tent and grinned. He swerved the kite into the tent.

**I wish that...**

He suddenly lost all control as the tent ripped from the ground and began flying towards him. Nate screamed and fell to the ground. When he got back up, he saw it.

**I wish that I could truly say**   
**I thought about you on that day.**   
**Out there on the beach alone,**   
**Just you the wind the sea and foam.**

The tent swam through the sky like a jellyfish. It billowed and twirled in the heavy wing. The tables and chairs followed behind like tentacles, glowing with the lights from the tent. Nate gasped in awe. 

The tent then suddenly turned and flew straight at Nate.

**But I didn't.**   
**Until we found you.**


	18. Chapter 18

Virgil put down the spool of kite string after he finished the poem he stood back up, having been kneeling to read it.

He pulled out his notebook and flipped to the family tree

**"He never talked about him, but Dad told me that if I was** **born a boy, they were going to name me Nate."**

Virgil remembered that conversation well. He closed the book and put it back into his bag.

He walked over to the door and saw it sealed. He frowned. Where to now? He looked around the room and saw a staircase in the corner partially hidden by a bookshelf. Virgil facepalmed as he started walking up them only to find a climbing wall. 

Virgil cursed his dad under his breath as he began to climb up.

**"My dad moved up to the loft after his brothers died. At the time, it was as far away as he could get."**

When Virgil got up, he took a breather. It was a lot of work while trying not to fall.

When Virgil took a book at his dad's loft room, he laughed. It looked like a hippie love child's room! 

Virgil stopped at a small bookshelf next to Virgil. There was a photo of Janus and Patton with a pair of glasses. A Bible and rosary were next to the photo.

**"Religion was another thing my dad never talked about, but I think it helped him a lot after his dad died."**

Virgil walked away, past all the psychedelic colors to the desk with an old computer on it. The corkboard behind it had a map of India. Next to it were photos and sticky notes. Virgil didn't give them any mind though. He stared at a heart-shaped picture frame.

Janus + Imani  
8/18 1986

**"He spent a summer building houses in Calcutta where he met my dad, Imani."**

Virgil couldn't help but stare. He didn't remember Imani at all.

After a long moment, he turned to the window and saw a wooden staircase on the other side. Virgil opened the window.

**"My dad moved to India a week after graduation and got a job teaching English."**

The missing posters were scattered a lot out here. Virgil felt upset to see them after all this time.

**"Remus was born a year later."**

Virgil went up the staircase, which stretched around the outside of the house.

**"When Imani died, I don't think dad knew where else to go. I'm sure Vee was happy to have him back."**

Virgil came to a small garden with four areas sectioned off. Each was labeled Janus, Remus, Roman, and...

Virgil didn't want to read the last name. That wasn't who he was anymore.

Janus's had dead snapdragons. Remus's was full of a certain five leafed plants. It was labeled as oregano. Roman's had empty pots that were stacked like a castle. They were white with black paint on them. Classic Roman. Virgil's garden had vines in it with dried violet flowers. Among the plants were a beautiful sculpture of spider webs with spiders in it. It made Virgil think of his tarantulas and smile.

Past the gardens, Virgil was surprised to find the lights here were still on. The board creaked beneath his feet as he moved over to the door.

**"The house had to get a little bigger, but Vee was used to that."**

Virgil opened the door into a classroom.

**"And for a while, things were good. Almost normal."**

There were two desks. One had note cards scattered in it with the names of family members. The other had "Remus" carved into it. There was a desk with a blackboard behind it that listed the steps of the scientific method. The desk had a laptop and his dad's book on it. Virgil ran his finger along the spine before turning to the other door in the room.

**"But it didn't last."**

Virgil opened the door. The wind took hold of it and swung it fully open forcefully, almost knocking Virgil over. The wind howled up here. 

**"The beginning of the end was Roman's tenth birthday when Vee gave him a castle."**

Virgil walked across the bridge to the tower with a balcony all around it. The entire tower had been painted all white once, ready for someone to paint on it. Roman's signature was painted by the door, making Virgil smile.

Now, the walls were covered in ivy and everything was a mess. Virgil walked around the side to the window. He pulled them outward and walked into Roman's bedroom.

It was a wreck. Black paint was splattered everywhere and red footsteps were painted from the door to the platform in the middle of the room. It was so messy and trashed that it made Virgil think of the missing posters. Did something bad happen to Roman...?

The walls were white, but some things were painted, including a black dragon and a painting of Roman above the door.

**"I think Vee was happy to finally have another painter in the family."**

In the center of the room was a platform with two robes. Virgil stood on the platform and pulled the rope. He went up to the second floor. It was a dome made of glass. A rainbow of paint was splattered everywhere. There was a canvas with a painted red shield with gold details showing a castle.

On one table were small colored paint tubes and cans of black and red paint. 

On the other table was a shrine. A painting of Roman was on the far right. Roman smiled. A paper crown atop his brown slightly-curly hair. A paint-covered paint pallet sat underneath it. There was a drawing board in the middle of the desk with candles all around it. Roman's lucky paintbrush was in the middle of the table under the drawing board.

On the drawing board was a flipbook. Virgil picked it up and began to flip through.


	19. The Magic Paintbrush

Roman stood at his easel, painting a boy that looked a lot like a version of himself. He turned away to get more paint. On the canvas, the boy's face scrunched up and the paintbrush moved. When Roman turned back, it moved back to how it was before. Roman finished painting the rest of the boy's face. 

Roman turned away again, and the painting version of him sneezed, dropping the paintbrush

"Achoo!"

Roman jumped and looked at the painting. The boy's paintbrush had fallen out of the painting and into the real world. Roman picked it up.

Roman began to make the flipbook. The flipbook showed Roman next to a giant canvas. He used his new paintbrush to paint a door with a doorknob. The door opened out into the real world, and Roman stepped inside, looking like a painting now. He took a bow and the door closed. There were only white pages after that.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From one brother's room to another

Virgil put down the flipbook and pulled out his notebook. He drew Roman in the style of the flipbook. 

"I was 4 when Roman disappeared."

Virgil sighed and closed the book. He lingered for a moment, staring at Roman's painting before he lowered himself down to the first floor.

"Dad spent months searching for my brother. Then he sealed the doors."

Virgil hadn't noticed it when he was down here before, but the large canvas that leaned next to the door to Roman's room looked like it had a door with a gold handle painted on it, but the painting was partially chipped away and old looking. Virgil couldn't help but think...

He shook his head and climbed back through the window.

"Whatever Roman had found in the house, Dad didn't want it getting out."

Virgil walked back across the bridge and took a left instead of going into the classroom. He started walking up the stairs, which looked like they could fall apart any second. He approached the next room, which was made out of a boat. Virgil had always thought that was so cool.

"Dad definitely blamed Vee, but I think Remus blamed himself. After he graduated he just spent more and more time in his room until dad got in a job at the cannery."

Virgil had to go in the sideway. He climbed into the boat and opened the window. Virgil climbed inside, making sure to duck his head.

"Remus's room smelled very, very familiar. That part of him lived on."

Virgil scrunched up his nose at the smell as he looked around. The smell probably came from the large bong on the table. The room was lightened by a black light that caused the neon posters to glow. One showed a poster with a weed leaf captioned "Legalize Marijuana". Another depicted a castle on a high hill. Virgil also saw an Indian flag on the wall. Remus had always been proud of their heritage.

On the dresser was a gaming system. Virgil smiled.

"Remus and I spent a lot of time playing games together but he was surprisingly bad at them. He died a lot."

Virgil remembered all the games of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. Virgil had felt so happy when he won any game against his big brother.

Virgil started to laugh. That special kind of laugh you hear at funerals, the ones that lead to the tears Virgil had flowing down his cheeks. He missed his brother.

There was a lamp on Virgil's desk that shined black light into a box marked "Remus Sanders locker contents"

Virgil looked inside and saw Remus's hat, which was covered in blood. Virgil couldn't help but stare. That was Remus's blood... Virgil had to look away to an opened envelope Virgil had never seen.

Janus Sanders  
2141 Firewood Road  
Orcas Island, Florida 34957

Virgil pulled out and unfolded the paper. He started reading.


	21. November 23rd, 2010

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dear Mr. Sanders
> 
> (This sequence is the entire reason I wrote this fic and made this au)

**"As Remus's psychiatrist, I can understand your desire for an explanation. As I see it, the trouble began in January, shortly after we convinced your son to seek treatment for substance abuse."**

Remus was standing at his work station at the cannery. His blue gloves were already covered in blood. Fish came down on the left of his work station. He took the fish and moved it to the right. A large blade came down and cut the head off with a loud chop. Remus pushed the fish body onto the conveyor belt.

**"Newly sober, I believe Remus first noticed the monotony of his daily life."**

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He kept working at the cannery..."**

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"But he withdrew part of himself."**

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"In our sessions, I saw the same behavior"**

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"His mind began to... wander."**

Remus imagined himself walking. The area was black with white outlines.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I asked him to describe it."**

He went down a hallway.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He said he started small."**

He then turned right and continued on. The hallway turned sharply. Remus just walked along the hall.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"Imagining a labyrinth."**

Remus grinned to himself as he navigated through the twists and turns.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He'd feel his way about. Then something moved... Bats."**

Remus watched as bats flew over his head. He laughed.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"And toads."**

He came to a large room. Toads croaked and splashed in chalk-drawn waves. He stepped through. The skeleton of a dragon was drawn below his feet.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"And things that have not names."**

There was a deep rumbling as Remus continued on.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He knew it was all in his head."**

A large fish blocked his path.

_Left, right, chop, push._

The fish cut in half. He continued forward, coming up to a goblet of fire. He took a large stick and lit the end of it. It shed light on what was ahead of him. He continued on.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"But he took it very seriously."**

The farther Remus went, the more the walls turned from black and white to colored and textured. It looked sandy.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I had hoped he'd find himself."**

Remus stepped onto a green carpet and entered a long room with pillars on either side and the carpet down the middle. At the end of the room was a raised pedestal with a campfire waiting. Remus excitedly hurried up and lit it with the flame he'd brought with him.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"But he found something more."**

Remus continued through the doorway begins the fire. His shadows danced along the walls.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I worried about him then. Daydreaming at the cannery."**

Remus followed the green carpet up a winding and crumbling set of stone stairs. He smiled wide as he balanced on a narrow walkway, high above the ground.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I spoke with his boss, but he said Remus had become a model employee. Methodical, tireless, focused..."**

Remus could tell he was in a cave because of the large stalactites. He wondered what it would feel like if one fell on him. It was dark all around him, and he needed the fire to guide him.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"Like a whole new Remus. So I let him go on."**

He exited the cave, out into the sunlight. He could hear the waves in the distance. The rock walls high around him meant he had to follow the soft sand beneath his feet.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I even encouraged him. It seemed very promising at first. He'd told me he'd made a new friend."**

Remus smiled wide as Chocolate ran up to him, barking happily. He pet the dog, and the dog stayed at his heels as he continued walking.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"On the edge of a city he named Remustopia."**

Remus approached a drawbridge.

_Left, right, chop, push._

The drawbridge came down, and he walked into his city. Chocolate happily barked beside him.

**"He built the city of slowly, brick by brick. Then he made musicians and songs for them to play. He talked about starting a band, and he was always humming something."**

As he walked, musicians came out of the buildings, playing the songs he had created. He sang along to the songs. People opened their windows and came out into the street to see him. They cheered, happy to see him!

_Left, right, chop push._

**"Every day, his imagination grew stronger."**

He waved at the people on the rooftops as he sang with the musicians, who followed him. Chocolate barked to the beat. He went up a large set of outdoor stairs. More of his subjects were waiting. They held up large paper-mache fish, painted green in his honor.

They cleared a path for him. He smiled brightly, waving and singing to his people.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He no longer spoke at the cannery, but his chopping was as reliable as ever. Then one day it struck him that all the cheering crowds even the stones under his feet were all on his imagination. So he could do whatever he wished."**

He turned the corner and began walking up a narrow staircase with a green carpet. The guards on either side of him stood vigilant. They moved their spears to allow him to pass.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He held an election for mayor, and he won."**

Remus saw a flagpole ahead. He laughed and ran toward the edge. He jumped onto the flagpole, pulling the flag up as he went down. A green flag with a black crown with an R on it. He was. It on the docks with more of his citizens. He began walking towards the ship.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"They begged him to stay but his mind was already wandering."**

He climbed onto the ship. Chocolate climbed on with him, having gone the other way down. The dog was a true companion. He turned back, waving to his people, proclaiming how he'll miss them. He set sail with Chocolate at his side.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"It became a game for him."**

Remus steered the ship down the large river, excited for an adventure.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He'd conquer a city then immediately push on. New Remusville, St. Remus. He started drifting away from our reality. Remusburg. Until one day, he forgot to go home from the cannery. Even as his father pleaded with him, Remus kept sailing on."**

The cheers of the cities before filled his ears as he continued down the river. They drowned out the begging that was happening in front of him.

_Left, right, chop, push._

The river started to split. He thought of which way to go.

**"In Remusburg, he heard rumors of a beautiful prince."**

He turned the ship to the left, going the way he'd heard.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"The prince was on his own quest for sinister serpents."**

Remus veered to the right at the next split. That way had large serpents coming out of the water, trying to get up onto the boat. Chocolate was scared. Remus grinned, unafraid. He pulled out his sword and cut each of them down with a large grin. They hissed loudly as they fell into the water.

Remus then heard music.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He followed the sound of his silver harp."**

Remus was entranced as he followed the beautiful sound. It was so familiar to him that he started singing the words to it. Ahead of him was a castle, Remus kept the boat steady.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"His chase led him to a golden palace easy of the sun and west of the moon. Even then, his logic remained sound."**

He docked his ship. His prince was waiting for him, wearing green, his favorite color. Chocolate loyally followed him as he chased after the prince, who was leading him to the palace.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He knew the world was all in his imagination, but he was so proud of having created it."**

His prince went through a big set of double doors that closed behind him. A fish came down to barricade the doors.

_Left, right, chop, push._

The fish's head came off, and he was able to continue. He smiled.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"In his own eyes, he'd become something greater than a king."**

Thousands of guards were in formation on their side of the green carpet he walked on. He saw his prince ahead. Was he almost there? Almost to what he wanted?

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"For someone who'd never known success in the real world, I think it was overwhelming. And then it struck him that the real Remus was not the one chopping salmon, but the one climbing the steps of a golden palace."**

Remus smiled. There was his prince. He was just at the top of these stairs. Then the prince went through another door and out of sight. Remus ran to follow.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**" _"My imagination is as real as my body,"_ He told me. It was hard to argue with him."**

Remus opened the door, but his face fell to see the cannery. Chocolate was gone. His prince was not here. He walked along the tile floor, past an open locker that seemed familiar. He rubbed his head. Wait, where was he? Where was his prince? Chocolate? Why did this all seem so familiar? Why did it make him sad?

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"He began to forget the world we know."**

He walked through the double doors and down the metal platform. There were lines of moving fish bodies. The whole place smelled disgusting and like blood.

_Left, right, chop, push._

**"I think it pained him to remember Remus, the cannery worker. He began to despise the man with a royal contempt."**

At the end of the row of machines was a single man. He wore a shirt with "Sanders" printed on the back and wore a baseball cap. He stood there, staring down. His hand moved vaguely, like a zombie.

_Left, right, forward_

Remus looked down at the man with a scowl, walking around him and up onto the conveyor belt. It led up the back over a pile of decapitated fish to a bright window. 

_Left, right, forward._

**"I still thought I could save him, even after he said he was being crowned king over all the lands of Wonder."**

As Remus approached, the windows opened to show a room full of his subjects. The conveyer belt carried him along. He smiled wide and waved to all his people. They cheered. The musicians played his favorite song of all the ones he'd created: Forbidden Fruit.

_Left, right, forward._

**"The palace would be packed with his companions. Including the wide calico who had insisted on advising him."**

Remus was so happy to see Thomas here. He stepped off the end of the conveyer belt. His prince was waiting up the stairs. He took the stairs to the _left_.

**"His prince waited, holding his crown. There was only one thing left to do."**

At the top of the stairs, he turned _right_ , facing his prince.

**"Bend down his head."**

He stepped _forward_. He didn't see how the mechanism between him and his prince looked like a guillotine. He had the brightest smile as he knelt down, bowing his head for his prince. 

_Chop_

**"And the rest I think you know. Mr. Sanders, your son was a kind man who will be missed by all of us who knew him."**

**"My sincerest condolences."**

**"Dr. Missy Lewis"**


	22. Chapter 22

The letter fell from Virgil's shaking hands as he sobbed. He fell onto the computer chair, unable to control himself. He had never realized that Remus was going through that. What if Virgil could have helped him? What if Virgil could have done more?

Virgil had to think of what his dad used to say about breathing techniques to try to control himself. He hiccupped as he wiped away his tears.

It took a few minutes before he pulled out his notebook and drew his brother, crazy mustache and all.

**"My bother was really cool. I wish you could have met him."**

Virgil closed the book before a tear could drop onto the page. He lingered in Remus's room, feeling close to his brother. 

After a long time, Virgil went through the other door in the room. It led out the back to more wooden stairs. He started climbing

**"On the way back from Remus's funeral, my dad told me to start packing. He waited until the day before we left to tell Vee. Um not sure he wanted to make it easier or harder."**

Virgil reached the top and opened the door. Their living room was a mess of missing posters and packing peanuts.

**"I wish we'd stayed, but I understand why we left."**

The cabinets were all thrown open. So was the fridge. It had been done hectically. There were still half-packed boxes on his dad's bed.

**"My dad ended up leaving everything behind. What happened that night had been coming for a long time."**

Virgil walked up the stairs. He didn't look at the wall. The name painted there was not his name. He followed the stairs next to that name though.

**"Maybe it should have come sooner."**

A ladder led up to the attic. Glowing stars were all over the walls. Virgil climbed up to an old room. His old room. 

**"But it had to end one way or another."**

He walked over to the bed.

**"All that's left now is to tell you about that last night."**

He got onto the bed. Sitting there was his favorite pen. He picked it up before pulling out his journal. He opened to a clear page and began to write.


	23. The Last Supper

**"That whole last day, Vee just watched us pack and didn't say a word. Until supper when he raised his glass and said..."**

"To our final night together, and all-out final nights apart." He took a long drink from his glass of wine. 

Janus didn't look happy at that. "Grandpa, you know what I said about alcohol. Some of your medications are specific..."

Vee ignored Janus, looking at Virgil- no, he was not Virgil then. Not yet.

"Nessy, I left a present for you in the hallway. Why don't you go open it? The grownups have to argue now."

Janus sighed. "I'm sorry. You're right. We're all leaving tomorrow, let's just enjoy our last-"

Vee cut him off. "I'm not leaving."

Janus stared at Vee for a long moment. "Vanessa, you're excused."

Vanessa got up from the table and left the room. The house was dark except for a few candles. She began walking towards the front door.

**"The power had been shut off that morning but Vee always had plenty of candles."**

Virgil entered the foyer.

**"When dad sealed the library, I don't think he knew about the other entrance... Or that Vee had a key to it."**

The other door to the library was opened a little. Vanessa went over and opened it more. She climbed in. It was crowded with books that loomed over her. 

Vanessa could hear Vee and her dad fighting.

"The thing you're afraid of isn't going to end when you leave the house," Vee warned. "Vanessa has a right to know these stories!"

"My sons are dead because of your stories!!" Janus cried. "I think it's best if Vanessa and I leave tonight. We'll have the nursing home send a van for you in the morning, okay?"

Vanessa made it through the maze of shelves to a desk. There was a book on the desk, waiting for her. She curiously picked it up and began to read.


	24. The History of the Sanders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Vee Sanders

**"Dear Vanessa,"**

**"There are so many things I wish I could tell you, but there's one time for one. This is about what happened on the night you were born."**

Vee stood on the shore below the house.

**"That night, the tide went way, way out. It was the first and last time I ever saw the old house aground."**

It was horribly foggy, but Vee could still see some of the house in the distance.

**"There'd been an earthquake out in the middle of the ocean. They called it the lowest tide in a thousand years."**

Vee began to slowly walk down the shore, along the newly revealed sea bed. He scrunched up his nose.

**"God, it smelled awful."**

Vee walked around large rocks and over slippery seaweed.

**"You know, I've seen that house every day of my life, but I never thought I'd go back to it."**

Vee could see the red light on the buoy. But then he couldn't.

**"When the fog rolled in, I lost my way."**

Vee almost ran straight into a boulder.

**"I got turned around."**

He turned and continued walking.

**"I started seeing things."**

The silhouette of a buck appeared in the fog. It ran off on Vee's approach. Vee could hear its hooves on the rocky ground.

**"Things I'd forgotten had ever existed. But when I saw them, they felt like old friends."**

Vee recognized the furniture and house pieces all around him.

**"That night, a lot of things came back to me."**

He walked up to the crumbling remains of the house. The gate was there. Vee looked down to open the gate. When he looked up, the house was together again.

**"Things I can't explain,"**

A light turned on in one of the windows.

**"But that I need you to try and-"**


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life continues on

"Vanessa, what are you doing in here?" Janus's voice pulled her focus away from the book. 

Janus's eyes widened. He grabbed the book, trying to pull it away from Vanessa's. "It's mine." She told her dad.

"Vanessa!" Janus scolded. He had one half of the book in his hands. Vanessa held the other half tightly.

"Dad, you're gonna rip it! Let go!" The book tore in two.

Janus threw the other half to the floor and picked Vanessa up.

**"I kicked and screamed but Dad dragged me to the car..."**

Janus quickly started the car. Vanessa looked out the window. Vee was standing on the porch.

**"I never saw great-grandpa Vee again."**

Before Vanessa could think of opening his door, Janus drove away. Fast.

**"The next morning, the van came to pick him up, but he was already gone."**

She watched the house as he got smaller then blocked by trees.

**"After that, we moved around a lot."**

Vanessa stuck her ~~_(his?)_~~ purple-gloved hand out the window, moving it up and down with the wind of driving.

**"We both tried to make the best of it."**

Vanessa sighed and pulled ~~her~~ his hand back in.

**"A few years went by..."**

Vanessa _( ~~?)~~_ and Janus were camping out of their car in the first. ~~Vanessa~~ \- no, not Vanessa- picked up a dandelion and took a deep breath.

"Dad?" He looked to Janus, who was setting up the fire. 

"Yeah, Nessy?" Janus looked over.

"There's something I want to talk to you about..." The nervousness and anxiety set in.

"Okay. What is it?" Janus turned his whole body to face ~~her~~ him.

"I- I don't feel like a Nessy..." The voice was quiet.

"Oh... That's okay. What do you feel like?"

"I feel like a boy."

Janus nodded. "That's okay. Do you know what name you want to go by?"

"V-Virgil... He/Him..."

Janus was quiet for a minute as he thought over the name. "Okay. I love you, Virgil, my son."

Virgil started crying. Janus hugged him. "I love you too, dad."

**"My dad didn't like to talk about it, but he started getting sick a lot."**

Janus coughed as he hugged Virgil. Virgil was concerned.

**"The rest happened pretty quickly. He got better for a while."**

Virgil reached over and took his dad's hand. Janus squeezed it gently. "I love you, Virgil."

"I love you too, dad."

**"And then he didn't."**

Janus's hand went limp.

**"And then I was alone... The last Sanders left alive... until I found out about you. I'm still not sure what to tell you about all this... If we lived forever, maybe we'd have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes. And appreciate how strange and brief all of this is. This journal was supposed to be for you. But now I hope you'll never see it. I just wanna meet you and tell you all these stories myself."**

_Bum bum Bum bum Bum bum_

**"But I guess if you're reading this now, things didn't work out that way...."**


	26. Chapter 26

**"This is where your story begins. I'm sorry I won't be there to see it. It's a lot to ask, but I don't want you to be sad that I'm gone. I want you to be amazed that any of us had the chance to be here at all."**

**"Good luck,"**   
**"Virgil."**

Dice turned the page to see his family tree. He saw the sketch of his dad and his grandpa. His uncles and great uncles and all that came before him. All those who did and didn't have graves here. He closed the book. He walked forward to a grave marked "Virgil Sanders". He knelt down and placed down the flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is an epilogue coming!! You're gonna wanna stick around for it! ;)


	27. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even the ends of some stories are the beginning of others

Virgil screamed in pain as he pushed. This was it. This was where he died.

He was sobbing and pushing and crying. He was in so much pain and exhausted. The bright lights of the hospital room made him squint.

"You're doing great. Just one more big push and you're done." The nurse promised. The doctor and other nurses were trying their best to get the baby out of Virgil quickly.

So Virgil pushed again with the last of his remaining energy. 

The room was silent for a moment before a shrill baby cry filled the air. Virgil smiled, relaxing, as the doctor shouted. "It's a boy!"

"C-Can I hold him?" Virgil rasped quietly.

"Of course." The nurse placed the baby into his arms. 

"H-He's so small..." Virgil whispered.

"What do you want to name him?" The nurse asked with a smile.

"Dice. Dice Remus Sanders." Virgil smiled. Then his pulse stopped.

\----------

Virgil had been in so much pain when he fell asleep, but waking up, he felt soft and warm. The pain was gone.

Virgil opened his eyes to see he was facing an ocean with a steady pushing and pulling of the waves. Virgil sat up and looked around. He was on a beach.

Virgil rubbed his eyes and then put his hand on his belly on reflex. It was flat. He looked down at it. "D-Dice... Dice!" Virgil was on his feet in a flash and began to look around frantically. "Dice!!"

His baby was nowhere to be seen. He sat down on a rock, exhausted. He began to sob.

A hand landed on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" 

"I-I can't find my baby..." Virgil said before he looked up.

The man was tall with a clean shave, glasses, and a tie. Even though he was younger than Virgil remembered seeing, he was very recognizable. Standing above him was Logan Sanders. 

Virgil went pale. "A-Am I dead?"

"Were you under the impression that you were otherwise?" Logan asked him.

"I-Im dead... I died..." Virgil whispered. Virgil was teary eyed.

Logan's expression turned to surprise. "I'm... I'm sorry. I was unaware you didn't know you had died."

Virgil nodded.

Logan's expression softened. "I'm Logan Sanders."

"You're my great uncle. I'm Patton's grandson. My name is... Virgil." Virgil told him.

Logan adjusted his glasses before offering Virgil a hand. "Come. I'm sure there's someone who can't wait to see you."

Virgil took his hand and got up. It felt strange to walk normally after being pregnant. It felt... lonely.

Logan led him along the path away from the shore. Cliffs stretched high on either side of them as they walked up hill. Virgil looked up and saw what looked to be a bird fly over them. Logan looked up and noticed. "Ah. Emile will be letting everyone know of our arrival."

"Emile? Patton's twin?" Virgil asked.

Logan nodded. "Yes. Come on now. We're almost there."

Virgil nodded and continued to follow.

Then the house came into view. Virgil couldn't help but stare. It looked like Brian Sanders house but so much bigger and diverse. Virgil stared, trying to take in every detail. He saw something fly in through a set of doors on the third floor. Was that Emile?

"Hi!" Virgil jumped and looked to the source of the voice.

A young boy stood beside him with brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a red shirt embroidered with little golden stars all over. 

"Are you the newest Sanders? My name is Thomas! How did you die?" He asked with a cheery smile, as if his question was the most normal question in the world to be asked.

Virgil was taken aback. "O-Oh, um... I-I was bringing a new Sanders into the world. His name is Dice, and he is the prettiest baby I've ever seen." Virgil's eyes watered.

Thomas's eyes brightened. "I know a baby! His name is Toby! He's the cutest baby I've ever seen! He's my nephew, but Patton won't let me carry him." Thomas pouted.

"Thomathy, I think it's time to leave him be." Someone put their hand over Thomas's mouth. The sunglasses reflected Virgil's image. Remy smiled at Virgil. "Hey, gurl. It's nice to meet you. Sorry about pipsqueak here."

"I-Its okay. I'm Virgil." Virgil nodded and wiped his eyes

"An apology is still needed from Thomas though." Logan said from beside Virgil.

"Fiiiiine, Logan." Thomas pushed Remy's hand away and looked at Virgil. "I am very sorry for upsetting you, Virgil."

Logan seemed pleased with that apology. Virgil smiled. "It's okay, Thomas. I know you didn't mean it."

Thomas nodded and smiled. 

There was suddenly a commotion from the house. The four turned as the door was flung open violently.

"Where is he??" Janus ran out the door.

"Dad!" Virgil called out. 

Janus turned and saw him. "Virgil!" Janus ran to his son and hugged him tightly. "Oh, look at you. My baby boy. My sweet boy. You're so big. Even bigger than I last saw you."

Virgil hugged his dad back as his dad held him tight, holding him. "I missed you so much, Dad."

"We've missed you too." Janus told him with a teary smile as he pulled back. 

"We?" Virgil asked. 

"Baby brother?" A familiar voice asked. 

Virgil turned. "R-Remus?"

His oldest brother smiled. He stood not far away.

Virgil ran to him, practically jumping into Remus's arms as he hugged his older brother. "R-Remus!!"

His brother picked him up, hugging him tightly. "Look at you. You're almost as tall as me now! You're not a kid anymore." Remus laughed.

"S-Six years. A lot has changed." Virgil told him.

"Like how you've realized you're actually a boy?" Remus grinned.

"You knew?" Virgil's eyes widened.

"Yeah. I had a feeling you were trans." Remus nodded.

"How?" Virgil hadn't realized for many years.

"Do you remember how we used to play in Logan's room when you were younger?" Remus asked.

Virgil nodded.

"Well, when you were about 10, you started to change how you played. Before, you were a mermaid princess, but then you changed it so you were a merman prince. So, yeah, I had a feeling."

Virgil stared for a moment before starting to laugh. He hugged his brother again.

"I died…" Virgil whispered. "I left my baby alone. I died, and my boy is alone!" Virgil started to cry.

Janus heard and joined in on the hug. They shushed him softly. "He's a Sanders. He'll be okay." Janus assured

"Dice Remus Sanders." Virgil told the two.

Remus smiled brightly. "A great name." Janus agreed.

They stood there, hugging for a long time.

When Virgil pulled back, he looked at his dad and brother. "Is Roman here?"

His dad looked sad. "No. Not yet. We're waiting though."

Virgil slowly nodded. While he knew that meant Roman was alive, he still missed his brother.

Remus then changed the subject. "Come on, little brother. We've got a room set up just for you. And Papa can't wait to meet you."

Virgil's eyes widened as he was lead inside his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was so much fun to write!! Thank you for all the love and support you've given me! I hope you've enjoyed!!


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